With RMS 1.0 Out, Microsoft Preps 2.0

Redmond's RMS technology is ready to roll. But so far, the only application making use of it is Office 2003.

As Microsoft Corp. rolls out its first-generation Windows rights-management service (RMS) designed to keep confidential documents, e-mail and other corporate data, the company is working on its second iteration of the technology, which will be part of its Longhorn wave.
At the RSA Europe 2003 show in Amsterdam, Microsoft officially launched its RMS Server and RMS Client technologies. The third piece of its RMS solutionan add-on for Internet Explorerrecently entered Beta 2 and is expected to be finished before the end of this calendar year.
Company officials describe RMS as a technology thats been three years in the making. Word leaked early this year of Microsofts plans to attempt to secure documents using a technology that is similar to, though not the same as, its Windows Media Rights Manager, which restricts usage of audio, video and other streamed material. Subsequently, Microsoft announced its RMS strategy in February.